


handle with care

by adietxt



Category: One Piece
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-15 02:45:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10548732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adietxt/pseuds/adietxt
Summary: Sanji watches the boiling soup as he stirs it, watches the liquid move around the ladle as he feels his own world stop spinning.One room over, in the infirmary, Luffy is lying unconscious.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For[this prompt](http://sanjisock.tumblr.com/post/158969479857/i-love-your-fics-on-ao3-d-okay-um-fic-prompts) from anonymous on tumblr:
>
>> How about Sanji sitting with a really sick/injured Luffy? Or maybe after a battle Sanji refuses to leave Luffy's side bc he feels guilty he got hurt or something like that?
> 
> I take prompts for all Sanji pairings. Feel free to drop them in the comments or on my tumblr, [sanjisock](http://sanjisock.tumblr.com). 

Sanji watches the boiling soup as he stirs it, watches the liquid move around the ladle as he feels his own world stop spinning.

One room over, in the infirmary, Luffy is lying unconscious.

Sanji tries to shake off the ugly sense of  _fear_ that's been gripping his heart since he found Luffy, sinking into the ocean in the aftermath of one of Big Mom's attacks. Sanji mentally tamps it down until the swell of emotion is just a dense pain somewhere in his chest, packed hard and tight and small enough to mostly ignore. Luffy is going to be okay. They saved him. Chopper is a good doctor. Luffy is —

Sanji pours the soup into a bowl and carries it on a tray into the infirmary.

As if on cue, Luffy's familiar voice calls out from the room, cheerful and light, "Sa — nji, meat!"

Sanji practically slams the door open.

Luffy is sitting up on his bed in the infirmary, smiling like nothing is wrong. His bandaged hands immediately stretch out to grab the soup bowl from the tray, and as Sanji watches Luffy practically  _drains_ the content of the bowl, alive and laughing and _oh god he's okay_ , all the fear is swept away in the face of knee-buckling  _relief_.

Sanji slides down to sit at the side of Luffy's bed, and he buries his face in his hands, blowing out sharp, jagged breaths into his palm.

"Sanji?" He hears Luffy's concerned voice in between spoonfuls of soup, but it feels distant. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he blurts. His own voice sounds detached from his body. "I'm okay," he adds, and feels the nausea returning because how fucked up is this role reversal, that Luffy is the one asking if  _Sanji_ is okay.

Of course Sanji is okay — Luffy went into a yonkou's territory and fought Big Mom for the sake of Sanji's stupid wish. Luffy took a hit meant for Sanji. Sanji is okay, for the same reason that Luffy  _isn't_.

When he looks up, Luffy is already finished with the soup, an empty bowl haphazardly placed around Chopper's medical books on the bedside table. There's a small smile on Luffy's face, and Luffy tilts his head like a lost puppy.

Sanji looks at him — at the tilt of his golden-warm smile, a wide rubbery stretch across his expression that renders him impossibly soft — and tries to imagine never seeing this face anymore. It hurts, and he has to look away again as he says, "I thought you were going to die."

Luffy frowns. "I'm not dead."

The sheer sincerity of Luffy's reaction makes Sanji smile, despite himself. "I know you're not," he agrees, but he also remembers the sight of Luffy's body disappearing into water, blood rippling out in fading rings of pink in his place, so he tells Luffy, "but you scared me."

"Sanji —"

"You could've died," he says, and he still can't look Luffy in the eyes. "You could've died, and it would've been my fault."

Sanji feels like he's eight again, looking away from his father's disappointed gaze, feeling small and useless and  _wrong_. It's his fault. Everything is his fault. He's a failure, a dud, he needs to  _leave_  —

He is yanked towards Luffy by a pair of rubbery hands and his face is suddenly inches away from Luffy's, framed firmly by Luffy's bandaged hands.

"Sanji," Luffy says, uncharacteristically serious, and he's looking into Sanji's eyes like he's trying to figure Sanji out. "Sanji. Do you hear me? I'm not dead. I'm fine."

Sanji tries to look away again, but can't. "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault. None of it was your fault."

"You took a blow meant for me."

"You were worth it." Luffy says, and Sanji feels like something is punched out of his breath. "I told you, didn't I? I can't be a pirate king without you."

The words make the strings inside him pull back and forth, fluttering and twisting, seesawing between pleasure and pain, so Sanji lays his head on Luffy's shoulder and lets his arms encircle him.

They stay like that on the infirmary bed for a long time, quiet for a change. Sanji's heels judder and tap against the foot of the bed; Luffy just leans into him, and breathes.


End file.
